Rotorua schools to receive $10,000 worth of musical instruments

Stan Walker (pictured) as well as Sons of Zion and Kings visited Western Heights Primary School and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hurungaterangi yesterday. Photo / NZME

Two Rotorua schools will get a $10,000 musical boost delivered by some of New Zealand's biggest musicians.

Stan Walker, Sons of Zion and Kings visited Western Heights Primary School and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hurungaterangi yesterday to donate $10,000 worth of musical instruments as part of an Eager Beaver NFT community initiative.

Following a nomination, shortlisting and voting process, the Rotorua schools were named the successful recipients of the music package on Monday night.

Stan Walker, Sons of Zion and Kings are the artists behind the Eager Beaver NFT project, which launched last month.

It is the brainchild of Sons of Zion founding member and Rotorua local Riapo Panapa, who wanted to provide a platform for musicians to take better control of their art and change
the way fans connected with their favourite artists and creators.

The NFT space was his platform of choice. NFT stands for non-fungible token and is a unique digital certificate that contains distinguishing information, which means there is only one and ownership is easily verifiable.

To help the musicians make their mark in this space, Panapa engaged the skills and expertise of two of his childhood friends - Rotorua-based electrical engineer Tim Wiringi who owns two DMI Electrical Engineering firms, and financial advisor Kereopa Nepata, who has spent the past 17 years working for two of Australasia's largest financial institutes.

The pair were excited to help the New Zealand artists continue to create following the tough times Covid had forced upon the live events industry.

Riapo Panapa, founding member of Kiwi band Sons of Zion. Photo / NZME - Andrew Warner

In the lead-up to its launch, the Eager Beaver team were building the platform, creating artwork and developing code and fine-tuning details to bring the relationship between artists and fans closer, which it is already doing having drawn thousands of members and followers.

It is these members who have helped come up with a shortlist of schools deserving of the donation of instruments.

Members nominated schools by making submissions for their school of choice, and through that process, a total of six schools were shortlisted, including Kaitaia's Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Pukemiro, Te Kura Māori o Ngā Tapuwae in Mangere, Triple 5 Rangatahi in Gisborne, Te Kura o Ngāti Haua in Pukemoremore in the Waikato, and Western Heights Primary School and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hurungaterangi in Rotorua.

Through a voting process, verified owners of Eager Beaver NFTs selected the two schools they felt deserved a boost of $10,000 worth of musical instruments.

"This is a community initiative led by our Eager Beaver community," Panapa said.

"It's been overwhelming to see the submissions come through and read through the individual stories for each deserving school, and we are looking forward to representing every one of them when we do the instrument drop-off at the two successful schools."

This delivery epitomises the Eager Beaver NFT project, which aims to bring the relationship between artists and fans closer, allowing artists to directly engage and give back to their fans.

"The relationship is cultivated and grown organically within Discord - an online messaging app where members who are a part of Eager Beaver can chill, chat, network and hang out," Panapa said.

"On top of this the artists are able to offer unreal utility [perks] to the Eager Beaver community such as a portion of their royalties, AAA festival experiences, and even time in the studio with artists."

Unlike streaming platforms and distribution agreements with music labels, Eager Beaver artists receive the lion's share of the royalties made from any content and music they release as an NFT with the project.

The rest is distributed to the community as royalties and opportunities to give back
through kaupapa such as the instruments to schools donation.

Panapa describes NFTs as the future of business and trading, and is looking forward to seeing more Kiwis and Māori in particular walk in the NFT space, and pioneering a path for artists to have better control of their work and the ability to better interact with their fans.